


Daddy Balin

by beargirl1393



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Implied Character Death, Kid Fic, Minor Character Death, Young Bilbo Baggins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-17
Updated: 2013-06-17
Packaged: 2017-12-15 07:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/846964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beargirl1393/pseuds/beargirl1393
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a prompt on the kink meme. Balin adopts young Bilbo Baggins after his parents die in the Fell Winter. A few years later, Dwalin comes to visit, hearing rumors of a dwarf in the Shire and hoping it's his missing brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Daddy Balin

**Author's Note:**

> I've read a few fics where Thorin's family finds a young Bilbo and raise him to be one of them, leading to eventual Bagginshield.  
> What I'm thinking of is one where Balin finds Bilbo.  
> (This will mix up timelines a bit and be mostly AU)  
> Lets say that the Battle for Moria happened right before the Fell winter in the Shire. Balin, still grieving for all of the lives lost in the battle, wanders into the Shire. He arrives in time to see the wolves attacking the Bagginses. He kills the wolves, but not before Belladonna and Bungo are both fatally wounded, leaving behind an injured young hobbit that is barely more than a toddler.  
> When he informs the people of the Shire of the deaths, the Sackville-Bagginses (just pretending that Lobelia is older than Bilbo) immediately volunteer to take care of Bilbo, so that they will inherit Bag-End. Balin refuses, and decides to raise Bilbo himself.  
> Where he decides to raise him is optional, but Bag-End will be theirs.  
> Basically, I just want a fic where Balin raises Bilbo like his son.

“Daddy! Daddy!” The door to the house under the hill nearly ricocheted off its hinges as the young fauntling ran into the house. His face was flushed, likely with a combination of the cold and exertion from his run, and his wide green eyes looked anxious, maybe outright fearful.

“What is it Bilbo?” Balin asked, turning away from where he was preparing lunch and scooping up his little hobbit child. It had been a few years since the battle of Azanulbizar, a few years since he had wandered upon the peaceful Shire, just in time to save a tiny hobbit child from the wolves that had already killed its parents.

“Dwarves,” Bilbo said, cuddling close and burying his face in Balin’s chest. “I heard the Thain talkin to Farmer Cotton, and he said there were dwarrows in Bree. They might be coming here Daddy!” There was fear in Bilbo’s voice as he said this last, a fear Balin thought he had finally overcome.

 After Balin had saved the child, he entered Hobbiton, informing the hobbits of the two hobbits passing and the orphaning of the young one he carried. The two hobbits were identified as Bungo and Belladonna Baggins, of Bag-End, and the child was their only son, Bilbo. When he asked about who would take the lad in, no one seemed very keen. All of them had their own families, their own children, and they couldn’t take in another one. The exception to that were Lobelia Sackville-Baggins and her husband, Otho, who were only too keen to take Bilbo from him, if only so they could get his inheritance and Bag-End.

When Balin realized this, he did the only thing he could think of: he adopted Bilbo himself and moved into Bag-End. It was slow going at first, as Bilbo suffered from nightmares from the attack, waking up screaming most nights and crying for his parents. Balin did his best to comfort the child, and soon enough Bilbo began to see him as a father figure, calling him Daddy shortly after. Balin had never believed that he would have children, considering how rare they are in his race, and something in him warmed and glowed each time his son called him ‘Daddy’.

Bilbo worried though, frequently, that Balin would leave. He remembered the fight with Lobelia, where his pinch-faced cousin had attempted to take him from Balin. He worried that the dwarf wouldn’t be happy in the Shire, especially since people gossiped about him frequently. He worried that Balin would leave, seeking out his family and his own kind, leaving Bilbo behind in Lobelia’s care. Balin reassured him several times, but he couldn’t seem to quash the fear, which had reared its head again, now that there might soon be more dwarves in the Shire.

“I don’ wan’ them to take you,” Bilbo cried, breaking Balin from his thoughts.

“They won’t take me anywhere Bilbo,” Balin soothed. “I would like to see them try inudoy.”

“Some of them are big Adad,” Bilbo said, and Balin smiled at his young son’s worry.

“They cannot take me anywhere I do not want to go, and anywhere I go you go dear one,” Balin said. “Now, I think it is time you got ready for lunch, yes?”

Bilbo nodded and went to put his outdoor clothes away while Balin went back to the stew, giving his father one last worried look before he hurried away.

They had just sat down to eat when there was a loud knock on the door.

Balin frowned, looking at the door pensively. No one bothered him much, even his neighbors still avoided him for the most part. Such was the stigma of being the only dwarf in the land of Hobbits. “Who could that be?”

Bilbo shrugged as the knock came again, accompanied by the ringing of the bell. With a small sigh, Balin rose from his chair, intent on sending whoever was at the door away as soon as possible. Bilbo followed, curious as to who would be coming to the door when everyone was likely eating lunch.

Balin opened the door, and all of his irritated words faded from his mind as he took in the sight of his brother Dwalin standing outside the door.

“Dwalin?” Balin said, disbelief evident. When he had last seen his brother, he had been guarding their king, Thorin. Had something happened to him?

“Balin,” Dwalin said, and there was relief evident in his voice. “It is you after all. Rangers were telling tales about a dwarf in the Shire. Said he adopted a hobbit.”

“Well, the Rangers were right,” Balin replied, stepping back to let his brother in and shutting the door behind him before smacking their foreheads together in welcome, Bilbo watching on with wide eyes. “Brother, I’d like to introduce you to my son, Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo, come meet your Uncle Dwalin.”

Bilbo moved over to his father’s side, staring up in wonder at the tall dwarf now standing in front of him. He was covered in tattoos, with a Mohawk and a long reddish beard, although it wasn’t as long as his Daddy’s. He had two axes strapped to his back, and he had a big hammer in his fist. He was taller than his Daddy was, and had metal on his hands.

“Hi,” Bilbo said shyly, blinking his large green eyes at his uncle from under the fringe of his curly hair.

Balin could see that Dwalin was completely won over.

“Dwalin at your service,” Dwalin said, giving Bilbo a bow and making the little hobbit giggle.

“You’re silly Uncle Dwalin,” Bilbo said, mirth dancing in his eyes as he looked up at his uncle. “Daddy made stew for lunch,” he said, as though he just remembered. “You’re in time to eat with us.”

“Well, who am I to turn up my nose at free food?” Dwalin asked, before bending and scooping Bilbo up, placing him on his back, letting the hobbit child hold onto his neck as he followed his brother to the dining room, Bilbo giggling the whole way.

After lunch Bilbo went back outside to play with some of the other fauntlings, leaving the brothers to talk.

“Where did ye go brother?” Dwalin asked as Balin returned from the pantry with two pints of ale. “After the battle…no one’s seen ye in years!”

“I needed time away,” Balin said, looking out the window. “I was tired of fighting Dwalin, tired of war. We were prosperous, until Thror began to hoard gold. Then, the fire drake came and killed many of our kin and stole our home. Then, we lost Thror, Thrain, and countless others at the battle of Azanulbizar. I wandered away, planning on going to the Blue Mountains temporarily, when I ended up in the Shire. I arrived in time to save Bilbo from the wolves, but it was too late for his parents. No other here would take him in, he had no close kin save this horrible hobbit lass Lobelia and her husband. They wanted to adopt Bilbo to steal his inheritance from him, and I couldn’t let that happen.”

“So ye adopted the lad,” Dwalin said, nodding his understanding. Balin had seen more of battle than Dwalin had when Smaug attacked, and it made sense that his brother would need time to come to grips with the wanton destruction the dragon and orcs wrought.

“Aye,” Balin said, taking a drink of his pint. “Bilbo is a good lad. It took a while for us to get used to each other, but he is my son in all but blood and name.”

“Ye could change his name,” Dwalin suggested. “Bilbo, son of Balin, son of Fundin.”

Balin laughed, shaking his head. “To our kind, that is how I would call him and he knows it. Hobbits consider things differently, however, so Baggins he remains.”

Dwalin simply nodded and the two sat in silence for a while, drinking their ale.

“How long are ye here for brother?” Balin asked suddenly, breaking the stillness that had descended.

“Not sure,” Dwalin replied, shrugging. “Depends on how much work I can find here. I doubt the hobbits would be interested in learning to fight.”

“No, hobbits are gentle folk,” Balin agreed, “But there’d be more than enough work for ye at the blacksmith’s. The old one is fixin’ to retire and has no one to take his place.”

“Aye?” Dwalin asked, looking his brother over curiously.

“Aye,” Balin confirmed. “Besides, I doubt Bilbo will let you leave now for all the treasures of Erebor. Family is very important to hobbits, that little hobbit most of all.”

“Far be it from me to upset my nephew,” Dwalin said, grinning. Both brothers laughed and spent the time until Bilbo was due home catching up and reminiscing upon old times.

**Author's Note:**

> Inudoy means son, according to the internet.
> 
> The link for the prompt is here: http://hobbit-kink.livejournal.com/7346.html?thread=17033906#t17033906  
> I filled my own prompt because I had this idea, but I think someone else could take it further and make it better


End file.
